If you asked most everyone what they were looking for, the probable answer would be to be happy!!
If you asked most everyone what they were looking for, the probable answer would be to be happy!!
We had that catchy tune “Happy” from a few years ago that set our toes a tapping and it made us feel good. And that is great because we need the positive emotion of being happy or wanting to be happy in our lives.
It sounds great but I am also of the belief that what we really are saying more often than not is that we want contentment.
It goes a lot deeper and it is not a feeling or an emotion because happy can leave fairly quickly when some other moments blow in and create challenges and circumstances that we have to face.
In the next breath, many might say they still haven't found what they are looking for. We continue to search for the elusive peace that guards our souls, the thing that sets us at ease with ourselves and the world we live in.
We are definitely a dichotomy in terms..
Contentment is a state of being saying that in essence, even in the not so easy moments, we can have a satisfaction, a serenity, a hope even in the darkest of challenges.
But how does one begin to venture to that place?
I think that there are many reasons why, in our society, so many struggle to find contentment but 2 thoughts have been on my mind for the last while as I was thinking about this blog.
The Void of Spiritual Formation
Now before someone goes, “Oh, he’s going too deep”, it is interesting that in the past 2 weeks, smarter people than I have been espousing the same sentiments on social media, magazines, news networks etc. In fact, many of those who have been commenting on the moral lapse in North America/world are not the ones you would even think hold such a view but sometimes, the truth of a matter is plain to see for everybody.
Some call it, Moral Compass, Some call it Moral Core, Some call it Spiritual Disciplines but the hard facts are that for so many, the development of spiritual formation and value has been lost or at the very least dulled.
Why is it that gunmen in 2 separate incidents murdered en mass with earplugs in their ears within a day of each other? That they both espoused different political, religious, social views yet did the same thing essentially? To kill or dampen the sounds of the screams of their victims?
Why is it that victims or on lookers have suggested in many cases that perpetrators of terrible crimes had a smirk on their face or worse still had “dead eyes”?
Why is it that a married man or woman can completely lose touch with reality and destroy the family they had built because of a whim, a thought or feeling, a mid life crisis coming on and doing irrevocable damage to change the course and direction of their families lives forever……
How could men and women defraud business partners, investors, and family, ordinary people of hard earned money to get the next big thing and for what?
I had a talk with a young man this past week and in the discussion, he said that buying the $185 track suit made him happy…. then 10 minutes later saying that with his next cheque, he will get another track suit because the new track suit can only keep him happy for so long…
As a famous person said this week after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, “No amount of new, restrictive gun laws can account for the lawlessness of the human condition that has laid waste their spiritual, moral formation”.
Pretty sobering words when you take a minute to think about it.
“No amount of new, restrictive gun laws can account for the lawlessness of the human condition that has laid waste their spiritual, moral formation”.
Or the call I received recently from a parent who, after giving and supporting their now college grown children with pretty much everything they could have ever needed or asked for so they could be successful, now queries that maybe the one thing their kids didn’t get that they really need now as they blaze their own footprints on the sands of time is a spiritual compass.
And yes, there have been many abuses that have caused people to throw off or away the spiritual lineage they may have had or come from or at best, keep spiritual things at just beyond arm’s length but that doesn’t mean we aren’t in need of it.
So to put it into perspective, the great writer of the book of Psalms wrote in Chapter 121 some very profound words that I think puts looking at or considering Spiritual Formation on the table in the day in which we live.
I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
He finishes the chapter by closing with this: He Speaking of God
He guards our very life. He guards us when we leave and when we return, He guards us now, He guards us always.
Some would say, but what about when the bad times come? Or I didn’t deserve that treatment or behavior; I didn’t deserve having my life ripped apart like it was… And it’s all true and I’ve been there and lived some of the effects of trauma done by others……..
But I read something a week ago that gave me great encouragement. It went something like this:
It is true, right and wise to build and grow a spiritual foundation that has strong roots in the ground; but while that is true, right and wise, the winds and rains will still have their days in the land..
It is true, right and wise to build and grow a spiritual foundation that has strong roots in the ground; but while that is true, right and wise, the winds and rains will still have their days in the land..
It made me appreciate that even when times are a little rock and roll, I still am rooted and grounded to be able to withstand what comes.
So when the happy feelings come and go, I’m still content in spite of the feelings.
Contentment In Any Circumstance
It occurred to me that the other reason why we are searching for the elusive “Happy” is that we are still trying to figure out how to be content in any phase or period that we find ourselves in.
When I ran my youth center downtown some years ago, we invited professionals from many walks of life to come and share their stories of personal development, education, how they got to the place they were presently at.
We wanted and hoped that some of the 150 young people that night could be inspired by a story, an idea would flourish that they could pursue.
Something I didn’t expect was when a young person asked a successful business person what their next goal was, that person said, “A bigger house and a bigger car”… To say I was taken back was an understatement because if you saw the house and car they had at the time, both were plenty big.
When asked, the successful business person said their next goal was, “A bigger house and a bigger car”!
But can we say that we look around and not think that “that grass is much greener than mine” and we sometimes lose our way a little bit?
I know it’s hit me at times…. When I would feel a little “Off” when it came to being content, I would remember the writer from the book of Philippians and Paul was accomplished, brilliant, smarter and wiser than most… But he said…
I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy/content whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.
I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy/content whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty.
There is no “Secret Sauce” recipe to being happy or rather content but I believe it’s important to understand that to get there or begin to find ourselves in the place or condition of being content, there are some things that we must consider.
So that we only sing (I think I’m going to just hum it and not give those words too much life) “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” because it’s a jingle made popular by a band and not because it’s so true.
I’m on the walk to spiritual formation, learning to be content in all situations, little or much… How about you?
If this resonated with you or caused some questions to come to the forefront, I’d love to hear from you.
I’m learning; I’m rediscovering what I’m looking for.. I hope the same for you too..
Dave
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